COVID-19 vaccine: 67% of population to be immunised by end of 2021

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Sunday 3 January 2021 that the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to become available in South Africa from the beginning of the second quarter, with the majority of citizens expected to be immunised by the end of 2021.

During a virtual briefing to the media held over Zoom on Sunday, Mkhize said that the government is working hard to agree on deals with a variety of initiatives – including the Covax facility and various world nations – to ensure that at least 67% of the population receives a vaccine in this calendar year.

“We are targeting for 67% of the population to achieve herd immunity,” he said. “Therefore we would say that the first phase will deal with frontline workers, then essential workers, the elderly, and those with co-morbidities. This will be complemented later with immunisations to 22 million people.”

SA’s rocky procurement process

With growing concern over the South African government’s ability to procure vaccines in a timely fashion and bring the increasingly rampant spread of COVID-19 under control, Mkhize’s announcement was intended to quell anxiety surrounding the strategy to emerge from the pandemic.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had previously indicated that a vaccine would become available to the majority of South Africans in the second quarter of 2021 through the COVAX facility, promising that government is engaging with various pharmaceutical companies over their vaccine candidates.

Many within South Africa’s medical research fraternity – including a group of eminent scientists led by Professor Glenda Gray, President, SA Medical Research Council – have cast doubt over the pledge though, suggesting that the fact that government previously missed payment deadlines to secure the much-needed vaccines from the facility “beggars belief”.

Mkhize, however, insisted that the government has made good on all its obligations to procure the vaccine, and confirmed that the requisite payments have been made to ensure that 10% of the population receives the vaccine by the second quarter of 2021.

“We have been working very hard following all the research being conducted globally to determine the best way to go about procuring the vaccine.”

Mkhize: ’40 million South Africans to receive vaccine in 2021′

Mkhize said that the only way citizens will be protected from the virus is by developing herd immunity through vaccination. 

“We have seen that our fatality rate has gone up to 29 000 people,” he said. “It is therefore clear that the second wave is affecting us at levels higher than we saw in the first surge. The only way to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic is through vaccination.”

“It has driven us to expedite the availability of the vaccine. We believe that they must be available to all South Africans, starting with frontline workers and vulnerable groups. Our health workers are the core soldiers in the fight against the pandemic and need to be protected to ensure the stability of our health systems.”

He said that at over 40 million citizens will receive the vaccine in 2021, and that frontline workers and vulnerable groups will be first in line to get their jab.

“We will be targeting 40 350 000 citizens who must be immunised. At this stage, we have secured the doses acquired through Covax which will immunise 10% of the population. This will be delivered by the beginning of the second quarter.”